Harvest Moon: For A Different Girl
by Cricket
Summary: Instead of Jack, Ann comes to the farm! She has to raise a dead farm, make friends, and try and end up with a successful love life- but surely that's too hard for a tomboy bar-girl like her? >=)
1. Ann in Mineral Village

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Harvest Moon: For A Different Girl

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What the…? ANN came to the farm? All of a sudden single boys are given heart meters? What's going on?!

PS: I made up one character to fill Ann's place, ya know, on the marriage meter(?) (i.e: Popuri goes with Kai, Karen goes with Rick, ya know…) 

I know this is similar to For Girl, but I haven't played that! 

**********=Flashback/End of a flashback

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I yawned, reaching out of the bed-clothes to grab the glass of water on my bedside cabinet. I glugged the contents down in one go, wiped my mouth and got up, shaking my head dizzily.

"Ann! Something came in the mail for you!" Dad shouted up the stairs. I heard water running- he was cleaning wine glasses or something.

"Nrrn…" I grumbled, grabbing a hairbrush and attempting to work all the tangles out of my hair. "Just a second, Dad!"

"Okay…"

I jumped down the flight of stairs, raising my arms above my head and cracking my knuckles. "What was it, Dad?"

"Hmmm…" Dad passed the letter to me. "Do you know who Mayor Thomas is?"  
"Un? Yeah….Grandma owned a load of farmland in that town he governed while she was alive, remember?"

"Un….Hunn…" Dad murmured, picking up another glass and wiping it. 

I dropped the letter and jumped up and down in ecstatics. "YEEEEEEEE-HOOOOOOOOOO!"  
Dad sighed. "I guess you're at that age…Are you sure you want to go?"

I paused. "You're kidding, right?"

"Well, it is a big responsibility, taking over an entire farm…plus, you'll have to work hard, and you KNOW that it isn't all going to be fun…"

"And….living here in the Clearwater Inn is your idea of a fun life? Come on, Dad! I'm eighteen! I can run my own life from now on!" I pouted.

"Well…all right. But the Mayor expects you to be there for tomorrow, which means you have to get packing now."  
"Thanks, Dad!" I flew at my father and hugged him around the middle.

------------------------------

I brought one hand up to shield my eyes from the Spring sun. Weeds festooned over the soil that had grown unfertile over years of neglect- twigs and branches were strewn over the ground, stones were ground into the field and stumps, rocks and boulders jutted out in random places. I sighed. This was my new home?

"I see you're getting acquainted with the farmland."  
I spun around. A little man was standing by the gate, a grin over his moustached face.

"This farm is alive, you know. Your grandmother's spirit still lives in the land," the man spoke seriously, but his eyes twinkled with mirth.

"Ha ha, very funny. Will you help me find Mayor Thomas? I think you already know who I am, but anyway, my name's Ann-"

"-And my name is Thomas. Such a coincidence, no?"

"Oh!" I grinned sheepishly. "Sorry…"

"No problem, young lady. Now, would you like to take a tour of the village? I'll send Zack over to unpack your things."

"Um, sure!" I walked off outside of the farm, then jogged on the spot impatiently. "Are you coming?"  
The Mayor sweatdropped, then hurried after me. "What you are passing is the blacksmith…"

----------------------------

"This…is…the library," Thomas panted, standing by the door and mopping his brow.

WHAM!

The door banged open and a boy came out, accidentally crushing the mayor with the door.

"Hey!" I cried, running after the boy and grabbing him by the collar. "You say you're sorry!"

"…Hn." The boy turned around, looked apologetically at the crushed mayor, then stalked off.

"Yikes, he seems like a people person," I stated sardonically, raising one eyebrow.

A girl walked out,her black hair in a braid and black glasses perched in front of her eyes. She looked a little worried "I'm sorry about Gray opening the door on you, Mayor." She looked at me. "I'm Mary, I run the library- A library that's full of my own father's books, but still. That was Gray, he's really kind of shy."  
"Shy? He practically ran me over! Why I oughta-" I started off after Gray again, but this time the Mayor grabbed me by the back of my coveralls and held firm.

"Bye!" Mary waved cheerfully, clutching a book in her other hand. "I'll try to visit you on the farm sometime!"

"LET ME AT HIM!"

"Ann, control yourself! As Mary said, she works at the library, she's a nice girl. You should try to get to know her. And just a little further…" The Mayor jogged up. "Here is Ellen's house, and there's my house!"  
"Yawn." I murmured, folding my arms behind my head boredly. 

"And…this is the Supermarket," Thomas stated, leaning against the fence. It abruptly gave way and he banged his head on a Moondrop flowerpot. 

A girl came out of the store, a glass in her hand. "Mayor! Are you okay?! My dad said he'd fix this fence, but he's been having all these stomach turns lately, and-"

"No, no, Karen, that's quite alright," The Mayor mumbled, pulling himself to his feet. "Ann, this is Karen. Her father runs the Supermarket."

"Uh…Hi," I said, put out.

"Hi!" Karen smiled in a friendly fashion , tucking one of her blonde streaks behind her ears. Even if I am a girl, I have to admit- Karen does have pretty devestating looks.

"Well, moving on…" Thomas said hastily as a blonde woman looked out the window at her shattered fence.

"Bye, Ann," Karen waved. "See you!"

"See ya!" I waved, trotting after the Mineral Village governor.

When we got to the next store, there was someone waiting for us. A girl with oaken hair and chestnut eyes was standing by the door smiling, a little boy with black hair clinging to the hem of her dress. "Hello there! You must be Ann, who's moving in on the Mineral Farm? I'm Elli, and this is my brother Stu." She indicated to the little boy.

"…." Stu pulled his tongue out. I sweatdropped. 

"Stu!" Elli nudged him gently with one of her feet. "I'm sorry, he's just…playful."  
"Sure, and Gray's just shy," I thought to myself.. Raising my voice with a definite upbeat tone, I replied with, "Um, so….is this the Clinic?"  
Elli looked blank for a second, then laughed. "Well, there _is_ a big sign up and all…but yes, this is the clinic. If you ever need fixing up then come here, the Doctor'll see to you. And remember to come for an examination once a year!"

"Got it!" I waved, then skipped down the lane after the mayor for the final section of the tour.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  
The Mayor skidded to a halt, forcing me to crash into him. "I'm sorry, Ann. Maybe we should turn back. Nokura is…trying to cook."  
"Nokura? Who's Nokura?" I pushed my way past the Mayor and quickly noticed a girl running around, screaming. She was screaming on account of her **blue** hair was on fire. Eventually she managed to douse the flames, then sat on the floor panting, wiping the ash on her face with her apron.

"What are you looking at?" She suddenly turned on me, grabbing a spatula from behind her and holding it in front of her like a sword. "Think it's funny, huh?"  
"Ummm…" I mumbled, and then… I burst out laughing. "That's some pretty odd make-up!"

Nokura blinked, then laughed as well. "Yeah, I guess I do look kind of strange. I'm Nokura, and I work at the hotel here.(Yes, in this story it is a hotel, not an inn!) I…was MEANT to do the cooking, but…" She sighed.

"Oi, don't worry! I'll show you how!" I said before I could stop myself. I blushed- I hadn't meant to show off like that.

"Really? Great!" Nokura hugged me around the waist then ran into the hotel. 

I blinked. "Is she always this strange or am I just having a bad effect on her?"

Thomas shook his head. "Don't worry, she's…friendly. Normally. Anyway, we should be getting back. And as Zack isn't here to tell you, well, Zack is the buyer, and he comes at five o clock to pick up produce that you put in the produce bin on your farm. You can also take food from the wild to put in the produce bin."  
"Oh, okay." I shrugged, then nodded. "Goodbye, Mayor. I'll do my best!"  
"Bye, Ann," He smiled at me, then took his leave.

I stomped back home, my spirits low. Sure, my Grandma had took me here when I was little…but everyone was so much older now! They all knew each other and I was left out. It SUCKED!

*******************

"My life SUCKS!"

Little Ann looked up at the sky, sniffing. "All I want to do is…go home!" She turned over on her side.

"Why do you want to go home? Don't you like it here?"

Ann blinked through her tears, the figure in front of her blurred. "Uh…*sniff* huh…"

"I've been watching you. You're the new girl on that farm, huh?"  
"Yeah," Ann croaked, her face sticky with drying tears.

"I wanna go back too. I liked the city a lot." The boy in front of her bent to his knees, then lay down beside her. "Did you like the city?"  
"Yeah…"  
"I liked it….but it was so noisy. I like being able to think…I like to be able to work in quiet, but…" the boy sighed. "No one likes what I make."

"Why don't you show me something you made?"  
"Okay…as long as you play with me for as long as you're here…and you promise to come back someday."  
"I promise.

***************

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Intro! I promise I will not continue it if no one likes it. Really. 

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	2. Preparing for the Goddess festival

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Harvest Moon: For A Different Girl

I guess I'll continue. Heh. ^_^

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I woke up, my eyes bleary after the sleep. Boy, was I working hard! The past few days virtually all I'd done was rush to the mountain path to grab some bamboo shoots, said 'hi' to a girl I met there occasionally, and raced back, dumped the produce in the bin, waited for five, and…zzzzz.

Today I was going to actually start working the land. I'd weeded, chopped lumber and smashed small stones, made a fence around a section with the lumber I'd gathered yesterday, and today I was going to hoe the plots…and get the seeds.

I got dressed and walked outside the door, but…

Karen was on my doorstep!  
"Hi, Ann!"  
"Oh…hello, why are you here?"  
Karen grinned, her jaded eyes glinting brightly. "Tomorrow is the Goddess festival."  
Goddes festi- oh yeah, it was scribbled on my calendar in red ink, but I hadn't thought much of it.

"All the girls in the village go to Rose Square and perform a dance ritual to welcome Spring. You can also get escorted by a guy. Annnnnd…" She produced a satin pink dress. With a _hoop skirt_. "You have to wear this!"  
She shoved it in my arms. "It's yours! Me, Elli, Mary and Popuri ordered the material. Nokura sewed it for you, and Popuri made you a headband."  
"Gee, thanks Karen…" I grinned forcefully, accepting the flowery thing. "Un….do I HAVE to wear a skirt?"  
"Uh….yes." Karen looked puzzled.

"…Oh. Well, see ya tomorrow, then, and thanks! Tell everyone else I said thanks too," I finished with fake enthusiasm, racing inside to put the dress away.

I heard Karen say, "See ya," and then the soft pat of her boots treading the Spring grass beneath them as she exited.

"Great, just great. A festival. Where I have to….wear a skirt. And meet _boys_." Ann shuddered and put the dress inside her posessions box, then walking outside to make the daily walk up the Mountain Pass.

"Hi," the girl said, sitting on a stump and brushing her pink hair away from her eyes. Another really cute girl. Like I had a chance with these boys here.

"You coming to the Goddess Festival..?"  
"…Maybe."  
"I don't have anyone to go with. Besides, I hate this village. I want to go somewhere else."

I was taken aback. "Why?"

"Well, it is _boring_ here," the girl stated, rolling over onto her stomach so her locks of hair rolled with her. "My name's Popuri."  
"I'm Ann."

"Popuri!"  
An angry voice called out like a hawk from behind both of us. An angry, red-headed boy was racing up the Pass.

"You left the hen coop open!"  
"Oh NO!" Popuri looked horrified. "The chickens are okay, right?"  
"No, not right! That chicken with spots on its wings got eaten by a dog!"

I gulped, glad that I only owned a cat on this farm, so I couldn't be blamed for this.

"Pon?" Popuri's eyes filled. "Pon….Pon was _killed_?"

"Yes, and it's all because of your irresponsibilty!"  
"But Rick, I'm sorry! I didn't want Pon to get hurt!"  
"I don't care, it was your duty to close the coop and you didn't, so it's your fault, you stupid girl!"  
"I HATE YOU RICK!"

Popuri ran off crying bitterly. I stared after her, my eyes bulging.

Rick sighed. "Maybe I yelled a little too much…but she's so dozy, you have to shout or else she'll just float around in no logical direction like a cloud."

"I'm sorry," I tried to console, rushing back to the farm, depositing the produce, quickly hoeing a few plots and rushing to the Supermarket.

"Hi again, Annie," Karen called out cheerily, placing a rice ball into a packet, sealing it and putting it on a shelf. "Working hard?"  
"Ohhhh yeah," I puffed, leaning against the Cooking Corner shelf. I'd noticed that Popuri was sniffling in the corner. Karen followed my gaze and raised one eyebrow.

"She's always like this…she's a little bit of a crybaby. And rude. But she can be friendly…"

I nodded. I walked over to the seed counter and picked up a few potato seed bags.

"See you, Karen. Popuri," I called into the store as I exited.

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With the seeds sown and the produce collected, it was time for the big one.

The horrible one.

TALKING TO BOYS.

I retched and grabbed a few flowers (as an intention to make a friendly image) and set off to the one place I _knew_ there was a boy- a boy I hated, but a boy nonetheless.

I opened the door to Mary's library, looking carefully around the entrance before advancing.

"Gray? Are you in here?"  
"….." There was the silence of someone being there, but not really bothering to answer me. I walked over to him and presented him with a Moondrop flower.

"….Is this a bomb?" He looked at it quirkily and brushed me away.

"It's a gift, dork-head. Don't you know anything?"  
"Ah, to receive a gift from someone who throws those sorts of insults at me…."  
"Shut up, dopey. The only reason I came here was to talk to you, and I think I've talked ENOUGH. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE." (Read the first chapter of LOTR)

I stormed out. 

-----------------

Next was Rick.

I set up off on the road to the Poultry Farm and attacked him with my Moondrop sword.

"Why are you waving that flower at- oh, thanks Ann! It's pretty." He tucked it into his coveralls. "Did you want something?"  
I took a deep breath. "Uhh, yeah. It's about the Goddess festiva-"  
"GOOD GODDESS! I forgot to ask Karen to go with me! See ya, Annie-girl!" He raced off like a orange, bespectecaled bolt of lightning.

"O…kay," I murmured, put out. "Rick is a definite no-no. I pity Karen."

I walked over to the hotel, feeling pretty depressed. Most of these boys I didn't even _like_! I'd look pretty stupid going there without anyone…I opened the door, sat at a table in the café and buried my head in my hands.

"Ohayo, Annie-gal."  
I looked up to see Nokura beaming at me.

"I'm glad someone's happy," I muttered darkly, as she poured us both a cup of Relaxed Tea and sat down.

"Why the long face, Ann? Somethin' buggin' ya?"

"Yeah…It's this Goddess festival. I've got no one to go with."  
"Oh…" Nokura flushed red, which was an odd contrast to her aqua hair. "Well, uh…I just gotasked by Cliff…"  
"Cliff? Who's he?" 

"Oh, he's no one," Nokura spurted out quickly. "Just some travelling guy, nothing special, he just asked me and I was scared of going alone, so…"  
"You like him, don't you," I grinned slyly at her, sipping my drink.

"Okay, okay. But don't feel too bad, I mean…There are three more guys you could ask, there's Gray-"  
"I hate his guts."

"Or Rick-"  
"He's crazy."  
"The Doctor?"  
"Well, I dunno."

I glugged the rest of my drink down, when someone came down the flight of stairs. A boy. His dark hair came over his forehead in bangs, and his eyes were dark, large and sad. His clothes were evidently made out of potato sacks. Heh.

I grabbed Nokura by the neck. "Who's that?"

She seemed to notice the lovehearts in my eyes. "Uhn, no one, he's, uh, he doesn't, ahhh…"

The boy walked over and blinked at me, he swivelled his head around to Nokura.

"So…what time should I come around? An hour before the festival?  
Nokura slammed her head on the table. "Ex-nay on the estival-fay…"

The boy blinked again, looking very put out. Well, anyone would be if they were sharing an area with Nokura. "…Hello. I'm Cliff." He bowed his head and walked away.

I turned around. "Nokura?"  
She'd plugged her ears and was screaming some gay-ass song from Pocahontas at the top of her lungs. Her mother, some pop-star wannabe with green hair in pigtails shook her head at her daughter.

"Well, uh… See ya," I grumbled, walking out. I was _NOT_ asking the Doctor, because frankly I couldn't be bothered. Plus, there was only one guy in this stupid village I liked, and I couldn't even get the guts to _talk_ to him! I flung myself on my bed as soon as I got in, falling almost instantly to sleep.

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	3. Mother's Hill

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Harvest Moon: For A Different Girl

Next chapter! :) 

PS: I changed it a little, in this the Goddess festival is fractionally like the Flower festival in 64. I liked how you could vote for a girl…:D

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"Oh dear LORD."  
I looked at the mirror in despair. Karen shook her head at me.

"You look fine, Ann!"

Karen had come around to help me out getting dressed. Ignore the fact she came at 3:00 AM and I would have been grateful for the thought.

"Look, just tuck your hair up like this…" Karen undid my hair so it fell to past my knees, then scraped it up, secured it with an elasticated hairband and wove flowers in. "There!"

"I don't know," I sighed. 

"Oh, I forgot to tell you about the voting programme. People in the village vote for a girl and a guy whom they think would be suitable to be Goddess and the Goddess's dance partner. I made your advert for you, so you don't have to worry." She grinned.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT?!"  
All the world heard me scream just then.

"Hey, hey! It's not so bad…And come here, your hem's come untucked again."

"Who gives a DAMN about the bloody dress! I'm gonna be shown up as the most unpopular person in the village, and if not that, I WILL HAVE TO DANCE WITH SOMEONE!"

Birds flew off the roof of my house in horror, twittering, "Ann's annoyed!"  
Gotz the woodcutter was clutching his ears, saying, "Ann's annoyed!"  
Little alien cows up in galaxies far away were beeping, "Ann's annoyed!"

Karen just smiled at me. "You'll be _fine_. Now let me pin up your skirt."

After another hour or so of Karen tweaking me into position, I was eventually allowed to go outside. I watered my crops carefully and walked up the the crossroads, where…

"Hi, Ann!"

"Hello."  
Nokura was prancing around at the junction between the roads, flowers from her dress littering wherever she worked. She evidently hadn't bothered at all with her appearance. And next to her was Cliff, who was looking at her like a big brother looks at his younger sister.

"Hi, Nokura, hi Cliff! Why're you two here?"

Nokura leapt over and made an attemp to hug me, but Karen witheringly indicated how pristine I was at this moment in time and Nokura backed away slightly. "Well, I kind of noticed hoke you ike-lay liff-Cay, so I convinced him to meet up with you so we could all go together!"  
I nodded gratefully at her. The four of us all proceeded to Rose Square, making it at 10:00 precisely.

Popuri smiled sadly at me, wlaked over and started talking to Karen about the death of Pon. She looked _brilliant_. Not as pretty as Karen, but she was definitely the second best-looking there. 

"Hello, Ann!" someone behind me said. I spun around to be faced by the Doctor.

"Do you need a dance partner?"  
"Uhhh…no. I don't," I said firmly. Suddenly a flash of brown and pink occurred and Elli was standing in front of the Doctor.

"But Doctor! You said you were dancing with me!"  
"Yes, well-"  
"So why did you ask Ann? She barely knows what this festival is, and you're harassing her! AND ME!"  
Nokura, Popuri, Cliff, Karen and me all backed away a little. I didn't know Elli too well, but she seemed generally soft spoken and caring. Now she was yelling her head off at the Doctor.

"Please!" Thomas ran between the bickering Clinic-workers. "This is a festival! Elli, put that bin down! Doctor, let go of Elli's hair!"

Elli put the bin down, but the bin rolled over and ran over Mayor Thomas.

Mary was the only girl who didn't seem to be interacting with us. She was speaking to gray, who'd only just noticed me.

"Dork-head," I mouthed at him.

"Dope," Gray mouthed back.

Thomas peeled himself from the bottom of the bin, stoof on his desk and shouted out across the square, "The votes have been counted! This year's Goddess is…KAREN!"  
Karen smiled at the small crowd of villagers that had gathered, and stood in the centre of the dancefloor.

"And the Dance Partner is….Rick."  
Rick zoomed into the middle. I rolled my eyes at him, Karen noticed and rolled her own eyes back at me.

then both of them started dancing.

They were EXCELLENT.

I was still staring in amazement at them when Thomas shouted, "Okay, everyone else join in!"

Mary and Gray, Nokura and Cliff, Elli and the Doctor all joined in, and then so did Duke and Manna, Anna and Basil, Sasha and Jeff…Eventually, only me and Popuri were left at the side. 

"Boring, eh?" Popuri grumbled at me, leaning against the fence.

"No…" I watched all of the couples there, all of them so happy…it reminded me of when my mother was alive and my father used to dance with her all around the inn, and she'd laugh and push him away, but then she'd grab hold of me and repeat the dance steps…

"Ann?" Popuri nudged me gently. "You're crying."

I touched my face gently. Warm tears were flooding my face, my eyes were pouring like they never had before. "Maybe it's hayfever…"  
Popuri shook her head stubbornly, but backed off to go to dance on her own.

I turned around to look at everyone one more time, then I trudged back home.

--------

I sat on my bed watching television, out of the Goddess costume (thankfully), hugging my knees. Nora, my cat, pounced on to my bed and rubbed against my legs like a furry hot water bottle.

"Nora," I stroked behind her ears. "Do you miss mom too?"  
Nora purred sympathetically, settling on my feet and preparing to go to sleep.

Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock!  
I picked up Nora and put her on my pillow, then walked to the door and opened it.

"Cliff? What're you doing here?"  
Cliff smiled at my look of astonishment. "Nokura told me you'd gone, so I decided to come after you to see if you were okay."  
"Nrrm," I mumbled.

Cliff looked at me. "If you're feeling up to it, do you want to go for a walk?"  
My heart jumped into my mouth. "Sure! Uhn, if that's okay.."  
Cliff stared at me, as if unsure of what to say without making himself look stupid. I went inside, got my sneakers on and came back out.

"Ready!"

---------------

I edged after Cliff around the route to Mother's Hill. "The Mountain Pass is boggy, it's not nice to walk in-"  
"We're not going to the mountain Pass," Cliff said quietly, catching hold of my hand. He led me up Mother's Hill, over a bridge, and up to the Peak.

"Wow," I whispered, all other words sticking in my throat as I looked across from the edge. Stars twinkled brightly in every direction, illuminating spots of the inky black sky, lightening it to navy blue.

"It's beautiful!" I said softly, leaning in so it felt as if I was flying off the hill.

"Careful." Cliff held one of my hands gently. "Don't fall."

Both of us stood there for around half an hour, occasionally talking to each other in short sentences. Eventually, Cliff got up and pulled me with him.

"We should be getting back." He looked into my eyes.

I nodded mutely, my eyes feeling as if they were sparking. "See you…"  
"Okay." He turned around to leave.

"Wait!" I dug in my rucksack and pulled out one of the Moondrops I'd gathered yesterday. Running up to him, I pressed it into his hands. "I was going to give all of the boys one, but…"  
"I understand." Cliff nodded and walked off.

"Oh wow…oh wow…oh wow," I mumbled, shakily starting to walk back home. "Boy, I have to see him again…"  
_Ah_, A nasty little voice in my head said meanly, _I thought Nokura was your friend. She likes Cliff too._

My stomach plummeted. "Oh yeah…I'm too tired to figure this out."

I walked back home, greeted by Nora jumping off the bed to wind around my legs. I put her on my bed and slipped in beside her, slowly but surely slipping into sleep.


End file.
